Ukraine’s military said on Tuesday it had shot down 11 Russian drones and two missiles launched by Russia in a nighttime attack.
The Ukrainian Air Force stated that Russia used a total of 13 drones and drones in the latest round of air strikes targeting the Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Khmelnytsky and Kirovolad regions. 5 missiles.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an evening speech on Monday that the meeting of European leaders discussed Ukraine’s military arsenal, weapons production capabilities, allies’ supply of weapons to Ukraine and continued support for Ukraine against Russian aggression.
“Every action we take together to resist Russian aggression will add real security to our country for decades to come,” Zelensky said. “Because every Russian loss and failure tells Russia and Europe and the entire Any other enemy of the free world, aggression would not and could not bear fruit.”
French President Macron convened a meeting of 20 European leaders in Paris and said, “Russia cannot and must not win this war.”
Macron said that while there are currently no plans to send Western troops to fight in Ukraine, the possibility still exists.
“There is no consensus today on sending troops on the ground in an officially recognized way. But in terms of dynamics, nothing can be ruled out,” Macron told a news conference.
On Tuesday, several European leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, pushed back against the idea.
“The agreement we had with each other and with each other from the beginning also applies to the future, that no European or NATO countries will send soldiers to Ukrainian territory,” Scholz told reporters.
Czech Prime Minister Peter Fiala and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said their governments had no plans to send troops to Ukraine.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in a statement that Hungary would not send troops or weapons to Ukraine.
In Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said sending Western troops to Ukraine was “absolutely not in the interests of these countries.”
“In this case, what we need to discuss is not the possibility, but the inevitability (of direct conflict),” Peskov told reporters.
Macron said on Monday that European officials agreed that they should prepare for possible Russian attacks in the coming years and that more efforts were needed to help Ukraine financially and militarily.
“We all agree that we do not want to go to war with the Russian people, but we are determined to control the escalation,” Macron said, adding that the purpose of the meeting was to see how participants could “do more.” Military support and budgetary support. “
After the meeting, the Netherlands announced that it would donate US$108 million to a Czech initiative to purchase ammunition for Ukraine from various countries around the world. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte expressed hope that other countries would follow the Dutch example.
Czech Prime Minister Peter Fiala also spoke after the Paris meeting, saying that about 15 countries have shown interest in the initiative, which focuses on finding much-needed artillery ammunition for Ukraine on the world market.
Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said that countries participating in the Paris conference have asked their defense ministers to develop plans to send more ammunition to Ukraine in the next 10 days.
peace plan
The Kremlin said earlier on Monday that Ukraine’s calls for peace talks without Russia’s involvement were absurd, a day after Zelensky expressed hope at a forum in Kiev that a planned peace summit in Switzerland would resolve Kiev’s efforts to end the war. Vision.
Zelensky told reporters on Sunday that he hoped a peace summit would be held in the spring.He said: “We must not lose this diplomatic initiative. We will provide a platform for [Putin] It can be agreed that he lost the war and it was a mistake. A big mistake. “
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, “We have repeatedly said that this is a strange format, to say the least, because certain peace plans are being implemented without Russia’s participation. In itself it is thoughtless, even laughable.”
Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, raised the possibility that Ukraine and its foreign partners could invite Russia to a future summit to discuss ending Moscow’s invasion on Kyiv’s terms.
Zelensky’s peace plan calls for the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the full withdrawal of Russian troops.
At the same time, Ukraine suffered setbacks on the battlefield. Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from a village west of the recently occupied Russian city of Avdievka in the east of the country, a spokesman for the Ukrainian army said on Monday.
The latest setback for Kiev soldiers came in the village of Rastochny. Dmytro Lykhovii, a spokesman for one of the Ukrainian forces, said on state television on Monday that they retreated to nearby villages and held their ground.
Likhovy said Ukrainian troops were outnumbered and overwhelmed by Moscow’s military power, and Ukraine chose to withdraw them from the villages and defend them elsewhere.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Russian troops had “liberated” Rastokken.
This article contains information from The Associated Press, AFP and Reuters.
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